The Columba Group
On her return to Dunedin from Africa in 1957, Shona opened her own dance studio in town. Fortuitously, she was also offered the position of teacher of “Ballet” at Columba Presbyterian College for Young Ladies.
Within very few years, Shona had taken the best young dancers from these after-school dance classes, and made them the basis of a dance group able to perform a full programme in the Concert Chamber of Dunedin Town Hall.
Major works of social commentary like My Skin is Black, My Skin is White and The Exile alternated with lighter pieces and recreations of Bodenwieser classics like The Blue Danube.
MY SKIN IS BLACK, MY SKIN IS WHITE (1959)
“Antony Elton, our talented but eccentric pianist, wrote the scores for both The Exile and the following My Skin is Black, My Skin is White – a ballet based on my experience of apartheid in South Africa. This work was directly inspired by a visit to our Lovedale home by the author Alan Paton. I quoted from his book Cry the Beloved Country: “I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they turn to loving, they will find we are turned to hating.””
Leap of Faith, pg 178
Shona was to revisit these themes throughout her life in such works as Liberation and Bars for Amnesty International for which composter Chris Cree Brown used African singing recorded by Shona. During the Springbok tour protests of 1981, While Grandmother Played Bridge made an impassioned connection between Nazi Vienna and the racist policies of South Africa.
Bodenwieser Reconstructions
Shona’s early recitals included works that drew on her years in Sydney with Bodenwieser, like The Australian Bush Ballet, Pictures From an Exhibition and Blue Danube. She recreated her own roles for Snake Charmer and the Russian Duo.
Other reconstructions included Caprice Viennois, A Parody of Old Classical Ballet, The Dance of the Golden Discs, Wheel of Life, Rendezvous and Ritual Fire Dance.
Columba Spring Service – Psalm/Maori Hill Church Harvest Festival (~1960-1962)
The various festivals of the Presbyterian school provided an opportunity for dance to play a visible role in religious celebrations.
“In 1961 a Harvest Festival service at Maori Hill Presbyterian Church became a catalyst for a completely new direction in my life. The church looked like a grocers shop… The congregation sat in front of an intimating collection of processed foods. Were we giving thanks to God, or saluting human consumerism? “What would you do instead?” asked Rev. Tom Corkill. “I would have young girls dancing down the aisle bearing sheaves of wheat, freshly baked bread, and pitchers of new wine”… “All right, you’re on!” said Tom. And for the next Harvest Festival, I had to live up to my word. This was the first of many dance services… and I soon became known as a pioneer of religious dance.“
Leap of Faith, pg. 180-181
